NCTO Welcomes United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement Announcement

October 1, 2018

WASHINGTON — October 1, 2018 — The United States, Mexico and Canada have concluded negotiations on a trade agreement to replace NAFTA. The text of the deal, now referred to as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, was released by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative last night.

“The U.S. textile industry is pleased the United States, Mexico and Canada have reached an agreement because Canada and Mexico are its largest trading partners,” said National Council of Textile Organizations (NCTO) President and CEO Auggie Tantillo as he noted that products from the textile and apparel supply chain accounted for nearly $12 billion in U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico in 2017.

“Unlike the original NAFTA, the new agreement includes a separate textile and apparel chapter. This outcome is a tangible recognition by all three parties of the importance of textile manufacturing to the regional economy,” Tantillo added as he explained that NCTO would not be making any further comment with respect to the deal until the substance of the agreement could be carefully analyzed by NCTO.

NCTO is a Washington, DC-based trade association that represents domestic textile manufacturers, including artificial and synthetic filament and fiber producers.

U.S. employment in the textile supply chain was 550,500 in 2017.

The value of shipments for U.S. textiles and apparel was $77.9 billion in 2017.

U.S. exports of fiber, textiles and apparel were $28.6 billion in 2017.

Capital expenditures for textile and apparel production totaled $2.4 billion in 2016, the last year for which data is available.